These on-trend features can sell your home faster — and for more money

The Houston real estate market is hot — one of the strongest in the country, in fact. But even in the midst of this buyer/seller frenzy, there are keys to making sure your home sells faster — and for more money — and it’s all about how you word the listing.

Zillow Digs analyzed listing descriptions from over 2 million homes nationwide sold between January 2014 and March 2016 to see how certain keywords referring to home features, amenities, and design styles impacted their final sales price.

According to the study, for-sale listings highlighting barn doors, the top performing keyword, can sell for as much as 13 percent more than predicted and about 60 days faster than other listings. Shaker cabinets could have your home sold 45 days faster (and for 9.6 percent more), while a listing featuring a farmhouse sink could sell 58 days faster and for almost 8 percent more.

Subway tile and quartz countertops are also popular with U.S. homebuyers, and, says Zillow, they may also signal that the home has other desirable features like an open floorplan or a well-appointed kitchen.

And what seems to be most popular in Texas? Game rooms on the second level. A different Zillow study drilled down the most unique feature commonly mentioned in listings for each state, and “game room upstairs” is 76 times more likely to appear in a Lone Star listing than anywhere else.

It’s quite different from Missouri, where a deer room is a whopping 1,668 times more common.